GRE Staff Newsletter
For the Week of February 10, 2019
Dear Team,
What a week! From an amazing staff meeting to the NAEP Assessment to Eagle's Nests and Party Wagon, we rocked it out at GRE this week. Over the last five days I was reminded what a great team GRE has. From taking care of each other when we fall ill, jumping in to save the day when a staff member leaves unexpectedly, and high fives and kind words simply walking down the hallway. How lucky are we to walk through the door at GRE every day?
On Tuesday we met to talk about our building wide expectations for next school year. In our vertical teams, we had discussion about how we can create a consistent experience for all students and staff. From our exit tickets it was clear that you are enjoying working in vertical teams to learn about other grade levels and align our vision. Another exit ticket take-away was that there is a common need for 1 GRE think sheet. If you have a think sheet you love, please place it in my mailbox. Ginna and I will start working on this soon. Take a look below to see the Walk About posters. These are still hanging outside my office for you to continue to add to and reflect upon. Another common statement heard was I wish our tutors and Educational Assistants were here, they are such a key part of helping with our building wide expectations. I could not agree more! If you are an Educational Assistant or Tutor, please check in with your team to see what we chatted about and add your thoughts to our brainstorming outside my office. As promised...here is the DRAFT GRE Behavior Matrix based on the hard work we did this past week. As we consolidate some of these ideas and create posters for different areas around the school, we will be sure to pass them out to PLC's for your feedback. Please print this matrix and start monitoring what we love and what we may have missed over the next few weeks. As a reminder, these will be the expectations beginning day 1 of next school year. Let's spend some time practicing the common language so that we are ready to rock it out!
Here's to a great week!
Kate
What do we need to bring our Behavior Expectations to life at GRE?
News to Share
1. Beginning Monday, please do not send students to the office to ask for copies. Angie has so much going on in the office, especially when Kelly leaves that the extra copying has been interfering with her ability to answer the door, answer phone calls and triage the bloody noses and other sickness. If you have questions about this, please see me.
2. Ashley Smith has decided to not continue in the tutor position due to family reasons. She shared that she greatly enjoyed her time at GRE and appreciated the warm welcome you all gave her. I will be interviewing to fill this position this week. Fingers crossed!
3. An observation that I've made is that our GRE Building Schedule Google Sheet does not necessarily match what is happening in your classroom. This is a bit of a problem since we use this document to plan ALL support including Educational Assistants, Intervention Specialists, etc. If your classroom schedule does not match the building schedule, please provide me with a copy of your daily schedule. I will help you brainstorm ways that the two can better align. We've been working so hard to provide additional support where needed only to find out what we thought we were adding support to, is not at the time on the schedule. See me with any questions.
PLC Challenge
At the end of the staff meeting this past week, I asked you to reflect on your current classroom management system. This week's challenge will be to read the following two articles,
Tear Down Your Behavior Chart! and Public Discipline Systems. To complete this challenge, as a team, share your thoughts and reactions using a Venn Diagram. Then on the back, write a statement about your take aways or action steps, questions or concerns. Those can get turned into my mailbox. Teams that complete the challenge, are eligible for yet another prize. I will give this challenge two weeks since there are two articles-I can't wait to see what you think.
Week at a Glance
Monday, Feb. 11- D Day; Happy Birthday Mary Wolf!
Tuesday, Feb. 12- A Day; Box Tops Due; Happy Birthday Maggie Pharazyn!
Wednesday, Feb. 13- B Day; Yoga at 4:15
Thursday, Feb. 14- C Day; PTO Sponsored Lunch for Staff:)
Friday, Feb. 15- D Day; Valentine's Day Parties 2:45-3:15 PM
Upcoming Important Dates:
February 15 K-4 Valentine Parties
February 18 NO SCHOOL: President’s Day
February 21 P/T Conferences 4:00-8:00pm
February 22 Columbus Zoo Visit
Feb. 25-Mar. 1 Read Across America Week